The Monochrome World
by Masu Trout
Summary: Sasuke would be the first to admit that he was about as far from normal as it got. But seeing ghosts? That was new. NaruSasu for Livejournal's anon meme.


_This was originally written by me for the Livejournal Naruto Meme, an anonymous fic requesting and writing community that I highly recommend. I've finally decided to put all (or most) of the stories I wrote over there up on my FFnet account, so keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks._

_Anyway, this story was prompted by a gorgeous picture over at community(dot)livejournal(dot)com/sn_exchange/56750. (Take out the dots, obviously.)_

_Enjoy!_

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><p>For as long as could remember, Sasuke had been able to see things other people could not. He'd always wondered if it were something that had been passed down through his family, like his pale skin and dark hair.<p>

But, he thought as he pulled out his wallet, it wasn't like he could just ask them or something. He saw emotions, not dead people.

The cashier gave him a smile and a, "Have a wonderful day!" as she handed back his change, but her heart wasn't in it. Sasuke could see hints of dark blue and purple swirling under her skin and through her shadow in a lazy, hypnotizing pattern—the colors of depression and a slow-churning bitterness.

Sasuke just nodded as he took his money and walked out the door, his groceries on his arms. He'd made a few attempts to help others out when he was younger, but they'd never ended well. People were more trouble than they were worth.

There weren't too many people on the streets as Sasuke stepped out into the warm night air. Not that he was complaining- the kaleidoscope of colors huge crowds made always gave him a headache. When the world was like this, though, quiet and empty and waiting for him, Sasuke couldn't help but be in a good mood.

Sasuke would never admit it, but he was smiling as he started down the road to his house.

And that was when he saw the boy.

Most people didn't have much color to them. A hint of a hue in their smile or on their nails, a fading tinge of something following in their shadow. In fact, unless he was in the middle of a crowd or really paying attention, he could hardly even see how they felt.

This boy glowed. Literally.

Thin streaks of pink and yellow and orange licked the sky above him like an open flame. His entire body was a shifting mass of color, bright and stunning, sending flickering triangles of light across the pavement. On this boy, he couldn't see anything but color, bright and raging and beautiful.

Keep walking, Sasuke reminded himself. Don't act unusual.

For a moment, he felt a wild need to run, drop his bags and just sprint for home. The boy didn't seem to have noticed him yet, and he wanted to keep it that way. For all he knew, this bonfire of color meant the guy was a psychopath or something.

Idiot, he thought. He had no way to know just what the boy's bizarre aura meant, whether it was good or bad or just a strange coincidence. And, anyway, if the boy was a psychopath, running would just draw his attention. Sasuke was on the opposite side of the street, so if he just acted ordinary and kept going forward they wouldn't even cross paths.

Every step he took seemed to echo through the air. Act normal, he repeated to himself, but he couldn't help but slide his gaze sideways every few paces, waiting for the boy to make some move. He was just standing there, staring up at the night sky and smiling softly.

Finally, after what seemed like several lifetimes, Sasuke passed the boy. He let out a sigh of relief as he did, annoyed by his own reaction. The glowing boy was just some sort of strange phenomenon, some oddity of Sasuke's powers that made his colors so overwhelming. He nodded once and took a quick glance over his shoulder, just to calm his racing heart down. Well, that was his intention, anyway. It ended up having the opposite effect because _holyhelltheboywasfollowinghim._

Sasuke doubled his pace, his heart beating out a panicked rhythm. Why hadn't he heard the boy's footsteps? How had he gotten so close to him so quickly? He was nearly running by now, but he forced his thoughts into a more ordered pattern as he fled. Orange, pink, yellow, red—the colors the boy was drenched in were ones Sasuke had learned to associate with happiness. But that was little comfort now, not when the boy could easily be overjoyed with the idea of hunting him down and stabbing him.

Perhaps he could overpower the boy? He did look rather childlike. Sasuke hadn't gotten a great look at him, at least not beyond the whole "human lantern" bit, but he'd looked rather delicate, and he couldn't be any older than Sasuke. That could work, he thought, a plan forming in his mind. A drawn out fight would be a bad idea, but if he could just take the boy by surprise, knock him down and then run for it, he might have a chance. He could make it back to the supermarket he came from and have them call the police. And if the boy had a weapon?

_His mother was lying on the ground, her face tilted towards the sky and her eyes open._

If the boy had a weapon, he would die fighting.

"One," Sasuke whispered to himself.

"Two." He still couldn't hear any footsteps, and it was leaving him disoriented and nervous.

"Three."

Sasuke dropped his bags, whirled around and launched himself towards where he estimated the boy might be. There was a single moment of pure adrenaline before he fell, scraping his knees and elbows on the cement.

The boy wasn't there.

He scrambled back up, forcing the pain out of his mind. The boy could be anywhere, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Should he run, or stay on the defensive?

"Whoa," said a voice from somewhere above him. "That was weird."

Sasuke looked up. Earlier, he'd been worried. A few moments ago, he had been terrified. Now, he'd gone to some place past fear and into vague irritation, because there was no possible way to respond to this logically.

"You shouldn't be doing that, you know," he said, glaring up at the boy floating ten feet above the ground.

"Eh?" said the boy, a shocked expression on his face. He looked behind him, like he thought there was somebody else up there for Sasuke to be talking to. "You can see me?"

_No, dumbass. I'm talking to the empty air._

"You're breaking the laws of gravity. You're not allowed to do that." Please, he added mentally, about two steps away from a mental breakdown, please stop doing that.

"Oh." The boy grinned slowly, his teeth the color of the early morning sun, and said, "Well, I don't have to follow the laws of gravity. Gravity knows how incredibly awesome I am, so it said I could just go ahead and do whatever I wanted."

"More like you're just so pathetic you don't know how. I thought people who couldn't follow traffic laws were stupid, but you're the first person I've met who can't even follow nature's laws."

"Hey!" Streaks of red flared up and shot through the boy's figure as he realized he'd been insulted. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk a little. Taunting, teasing, throwing insults back and forth—he was on more familiar ground here.

Still frowning, the boy jumped lightly into the air and landed on the ground next to Sasuke. Realistically, the boy should have gotten hurt from a drop like that, but he didn't even look phased by it.

The boy was a little shorter than him, with golden hair and eyes and skin that phased down into a mix of reds and oranges shot through with hints of blue and green. An interesting mix, one that meant the boy wasn't entirely a happy-go-lucky idiot.

What was this boy? Sasuke wondered. Was he just going insane?

"So, kid, what's your name?" the boy asked.

"Kid? That's pretty funny coming from a child like you," Sasuke said, fuming. He got enough of being treated like a little boy from the adults around town. He didn't need to take it from weird child-ghost things.

"A child? I'll have you know I'm the oldest, wisest, and most badass person in this town!" The boy stuck his chest out with pride, grinning wildly.

"Age has nothing to do with maturity. If you don't even know that it's impolite to ask someone's name without giving your own, then you're nothing but a child."

Sasuke was mentally preparing himself for the fight he knew was about to happen. Even if the boy wasn't a psychopath of some sort (which he didn't seem to be) he was definitely proud, and Sasuke had probably taken his insults one step too far.

To his surprise, though, the boy just laughed. Yellow lights flickered out into the streets as he doubled over, giggling. It was a nice sound, Sasuke decided, open and clear. It was the sort of laughter that made you want to join in.

But still, he had a reputation to uphold, so he just scowled and said, "It wasn't that funny, idiot."

"I know, I know," The boy said, wiping at his eyes. "I just…." He looked away for a moment, an odd expression on his face. "It's just been a while since I've had company."

"Anyway," he said, shaking his thoughts away. "You're right." He held out one shimmering hand. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto. And you?"

Sasuke stared at the hand for a moment, weighing his options. If the boy wanted to kill him, he could have done so several times already, so it wasn't like giving out his name would put him in much more danger. Could the boy's hand burn him? It did look like fire, after all.

_"We are not cowards," his father said as he stared out into the sunset._

"Uchiha Sasuke," he said, reaching out and shaking Naruto's hand.

It didn't burn him, thankfully. In fact, it felt warm and pleasant, like being wrapped in a blanket on a cold winter's day. That wasn't the odd part. The odd part was that his hand went through Naruto's, like the boy was insubstantial, made of nothing but flame. Naruto's hand had lost its shape when Sasuke touched it, and now flickered around his fist like he was on fire.

"Wow," Sasuke breathed, watching the colors play across his fingers and around his palm.

"Pretty cool, right?" Naruto asked happily.

They stood there for a long moment, just staring at their hands. Eventually Naruto jerked back, chuckling lightly, and scratched awkwardly at the back of his head.

"Um! Well, I…" he said, avoiding eye contact.

"I'd better be getting home," Sasuke said, trying to force down the blush he was sure shone across his face. Had they just been _holding hands?_

"Yeah, me too."

They both stood there for a moment, awkward, before Naruto abruptly spun around and started walking away. Sasuke had hoped he would get a chance to see just how Naruto managed to walk on air, but he seemed content enough to use the pavement for now. The boy was almost out of sight when Sasuke realized what he wanted to ask.

"Wait!" he shouted at the boy's retreating back, hoping nobody would care about the racket enough to come outside. How crazy would he look then?

Naruto turned around.

"What are you?" Sasuke yelled down the road.

Even from where he was standing, Sasuke could see the deep blue that wrapped itself around Naruto, chasing away the shimmering gold. It made him feel bad in a way people's emotions usually didn't.

"I don't know!" Naruto shouted back, and then he was gone.

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><p>"What are you looking so pitiful about, kiddo?"<p>

As it turned out, gone was a very subjective term.

"Maybe about the fact that I'm being stalked by a relentless idiot?"

He'd walked out the door one morning and the boy was just _there._He'd only stuck around for about five minutes that time, but he'd just kept popping in at random times and random places for the past two weeks—while he was eating, during a shopping trip, or while he was feeding the ducks at the park. Which was what he was doing now, actually.

"Oh, hey, that one looks hungry. Throw him a piece."

Naruto was just lucky he'd never shown up while Sasuke was in the shower, because he would have to find a way to kill the boy if that ever happened. Painfully.

"You are such a pain," Sasuke sighed as he tossed a crust out to Naruto's duck.

Naruto grinned from his position on the grass next to Sasuke. "Aw, come on, you know you love it when I'm around."

That may have been a tiny bit true, but Sasuke would die before he would ever admit it. So he just closed his eyes and scowled into the afternoon sun.

"School starts tomorrow," he said finally. The crowds of color-saturated people, the constant drama, the early mornings, the teachers treating him like he was incapable of thought, the far-too-easy work—Sasuke didn't appreciate school one bit. He preferred places like this, calming and serene, with no-one around but him. And, lately, Naruto.

"Well, you know who doesn't have to go to school?" He didn't even have to open his eyes to imagine the teasing look Naruto would be wearing.

"Ugh. Don't you have anyone else to haunt?"

Sasuke waited for an insult, one of the comebacks that defined their odd relationship. When Naruto was silent, he cracked one eye open and turned to look at the boy.

His body was a deeper, more consuming blue then Sasuke had ever seen him before. It swirled up past his legs, around the odd clothes he wore, replaced the normal yellow of his smile. He could tell instantly that he'd said something wrong.

"What… what did I say?"

"Nothing," Naruto answered, a little bit too quickly.

"It's okay to be upset," he said, trying not to sound frustrated. He wasn't used to this whole "friend" thing. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"It's just…" Naruto trailed off, and then said, "It's just that there isn't anyone else."

"Huh?" Sasuke pushed himself up onto one elbow, staring across at the boy. "What do you mean?"

"You're the first person who can sense me in," he stopped for a moment, counting under his breath, "Twenty-three years."

"Oh," Sasuke said. "Oh wow." He thought about what that must be like for Naruto. Sasuke didn't spend a whole lot of time around people, but he'd lived his life knowing that people would be able to see him, that if he needed someone to talk to there would be someone there. He'd always been able to take that for granted.

For a guy like Naruto, bright and bubbly and attention grabbing, it must be hell.

"What happened to the last one?"

Naruto flinched.

"It's okay," Sasuke said. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"Ah. Thanks." He hadn't noticed Naruto move, but suddenly he was standing in the air above him, looking down at Sasuke with an odd expression on his face. Sasuke slowly reached a hand up toward Naruto; feeling like this somehow meant something more than an afternoon in the park.

"Idiot," Sasuke grumbled, his throat suddenly tight.

"You know you like it," Naruto replied, grinning and gold again, and lowered himself towards Sasuke, looking for all the world like he was falling in slow motion.

And perhaps, Sasuke thought as he felt lips like a warm candle brush against his own, perhaps he did.

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